You get two posts this month!!

So I know I just published a post but I wanted to do another one. This one is all about my holiday and a few random pieces of information that may tickle your fancy (cliched I know!) Let me start by saying that the first few days of my holiday were jam-packed with many different activities involving a few of my closest friends. It involved movies, birthday parties, laughing, eating, poker, Kath and Kim, Sherlock Homes, music, and more. I was truelly blessed to spend time with all these people and catch up with those friends I hadnt seen in more than half a year. Thankfully I had time to breathe before I was whizzed away to my brothers house, atleast a four hour drive away. The town where my brother lives is tiny. Really small. It's literally a main street and some houses. Not that I'm complaining. It was just what I needed to relax. To take a breather. This probably makes me sound like I live a really hectic life..which I dont. And I almost felt guilty for taking a holiday in the first place to be fair. But enough people had told that I had worked waay too much. Which was probably their way of saying "We never see you..!" Anyway I keep getting side-tracked. I tend to always want to write with some kind of order, but I should know better. I have a spontaneous mind. And its no wonder I only have three followers ;) Anyway I had already organised with my sister-in-law to stay for the week, as she needed a babysitter for my nephew Logan. I also dragged my brother Mikey along as I knew Logan would need that constant attention, (he's a now a big five-year-old). My youngest nephew went with his mummy to work (the daycare) and Daniel, my brother, works at a local dairy farm where he does crazy hours, like getting up at 2.15..yuk! So the majority of the days it was just the boys and I. It was really lovely though. The first few days we explored the town (it honestly didnt that long ;p). Across the road from my bros house stands this huge hill, which quickly became our favourite place to go.

My darling nephew Logan basking in the evening sun. (on "The hill")

Mikey and I making funny faces. Or atleast I'm making a funny face, down by the river. (Down by the ole river...). We spent a bit of time here cooling off. Did I get sunburn, you ask? Yup and Im proud of it :)

Another way to cool down. Thankgoodness I brang my Bar Method dvds with me. I think I also ate my weight in chocolate. Not that it is an unusual thing for me to do ;)

Benjamin. Cute.

Tell me those clouds do not spetacular. Almost everynight you'd hear me asking Mikey and Logan, "To the hill?" It's quite funny really. I really do beleive that hill has something very special about it. Hopefully one day I'll be able to go back. You see my brother wants to move back our way, and so the likelihood of going there again is pretty small. What with going back to work next week etc. Sad really. But hey thats why ya take photos right? To capture the 'pretty' we see in life. Those moments that grip our minds can be relived through a simple photograph. Ah thankyou God for inventing the camera. Or atleast giving man the ability to make it ;) Like any holiday, the time spent at my brother's went really quick. I was sad to leave but happy to be home. Nothing quite like mum's cooking :) Anyway my holiday isn't quite over yet. I still have another four days of freedom wooo :) I think the next few days will be filled with the "Summer List" activities (heres hoping). Though to be honest I'm not gonna stress over completing the list by Monday. Its really not a huge deal. Atleast I keep trying to tell myself that. Right before I give up and just post this baby, I'm gonna get to the "Random." I dont know why I dont post more random things on here. Thank the Lord I do not have Pinterest or whatever its called. It's be about as addicting as twitter. Yes I have a twitter btw. You can find it by googling HannahIta16 twitter. Its way more up to date than this. Obviously. But anyway enough rambling about that. So lately, as in the last week or so, I have been somewhat facinated by the Effiel Tower. I'm not sure what brang about this random interest. But I'm like obsessed. Check this

Isnt it gorgeous. I just wanna throw myself into the picture. Its weird aye. I'm tempted to make it my background image to be honest. I already have it on my twitter page haha. Like I said I'm not sure what's brang about this sudden interest but hey I dont mind. The say Paris is the place of romance. Perhaps I'll meet my future husband upcoming days. (pfft yeah right! Im so content being single right now..see last post). Anyway what else has been capturing my mind right now, you ask? These songs. I think these songs are really inspiring. Demi is inspiring. I love her. Enough said. This book series.

Also I plan on reading The Hunger Games ASAP. My friend just bought the series and could not put them down. I'm pretty excited to get into them. And then plan on seeing the film as soon as it is out.

Blueberries. Random I know. But c'mon who can resist? Plus I have a fantastic recipe for a blueberry cheesecake that I'm dying to make.And yes I will be uploading ;) Right I think thats enough for now. I say that because I've been writing this post for like five hours. Isnt that sad! Right till next love yas!

Happy New Year

Yes it is 2012! Woohoo! How quick has this month gone! Already its the 25th and before ya know it will be Febuary. Kinda a scary thought about how quickly time flies. Funnily enough I have tried to write this entry like five times. I keep logging on and then fail to finish it. Anyway I'm not sure what I'll write about this month. How did yall celebrate your New Years? Mine consisted of Lemon, Lime and Bitters and the Amanda Show. Have you seen it? Its rather amusing and I rather like her character. Anyway the night was quiet and I'm not even sure whether I made it to twelve or not. I had work the next day you see so I tried to have an earlysih evening. I'm still pretty bad with bedtimes. I've somehow got into a very bad routine where I lay my head at 10.30-11ish on the nights I have work (shocking!) and then like 1-2 am on my days off. I keep reminding myself of the verse " For so He gives His beloved sleep"..but I have yet to be influenced by that. Anyway I had about nine days off work over the Christmas period (I started back on Jan 1st) and let me tell you it was bliss! The first few days were consumed with Christmas prep which was lovely. On Christmas night, the nephews came and then half the family went camping on Boxing Day. This left my youngest brother Michael and myself (aswell as mum and dad) at home. So Mike and I decided to have our own fun. We actually created a Summer List which you can find: here. Our one was different slightly. But is it not such a brilliant idea?! And a really good way to be intentional about the summer. It was really good that my brother was so into too. Hes kinda getting to the age where in possibly three months, he wont want to be seen with me, which will hurt but I wont be bitter ;) Anyway I am getting slightly side-tracked. My fam are such big movie buffs, therfore our list mainly consisted of movies. He bought me a few girly ones for Christmas and there were other ones that we knew we would not get away with watching when the others returned home. I'll spare my brother the embarrassment of mentioning the movie titles ;) Other ideas include roasting marshmellows, a waterfight, sleeping out on the trampoline, have a badminton tournament, and also a sleepover in the lounge. We havnt completed everything on our list as some things we've saved for the rest of the summer, and for when the boys had arrived home again. So we only did a few of them. Sleeping out on the trampoline was probably one of my favs :) The night was perfect. Not hot. Not cold. Perfect. Had a funny moment trying to zip up my sleeping back in the dark. We had both my cellphone light and a torch, yet even so it took like honestly 20 minutes to accomplish. Crazy huh. Anyway that wee break has come and gone and I am currently on my second holiday if you will. I have two weeks off and will be back at work this coming Monday (30th):( I'm not really looking forward to it to be honest. Like I know it's what I'm meant to be doingright now, but even so.. But hey isn't life like that. Full of periods where you'll doing things that you dont really want to do..but you know it's right. I really love this quote that I came across through twitter. "An unbeleiver does what he feels like. A beleiver does what is right." Bill Johnson. It kinda says it all really. As Christians we are no longer living for ourselves, but for Christ who dwells in us. We're not supposed to be living by our feelings, but by Holy Spirit who leads us. We have feelings but we dont need to live by them.Obviously we cannot live perfect lives. As much as I want to, my perfectionist side cries out. Ughh I fail so much. In fact this leads me to my next topic really. I wont go too deep into details, but I wanna be honest. This last week, my feelings have been driving me crazy. I said some things, shared some things..things that should not have been let out of my mind. Okay I'll just say it. I let a particular male back into my life. I knew I had to make peace with him..but I unfortunately well fell for him, again. I should have known better than to have just run with my affections, if you will. I know it was wrong, and I have unfortunately hurt him once again :( Its really lame, and deep down I know I have issues to deal with involving my heart and my souls desire for significance and well attention really. And I can only find that in Christ. And I know that. And yet for some reason, I keep running. I keep fighting to spread my own wings and do what I WANT to do. But that's not right. I know God yearns for all of me, not some of me. He wants my whole heart. Oh Jesus, help me to surrender to You. Everything, Lord. Everything that hinders love, help me God to give it to You. You only can satisfy. Your plans for me are so much bigger than my own. Lord I surrender. Amen. Anyway enough about that. I should share with you all about my current holiday. And my current obbsession with the Eiffel Tower...Mayby next post ;)

Its December

Yes it is December and it has been for twenty days but it only really hit me a while ago. In my mind Christmas was still months away! I thought I had plenty of time! Turns out I only have like two shopping days left (beacause I can only get into town once a week!)and this is kinda freaking me out. In saying that however, all the fuss and traditions that go on over this season has made me realise just how much goes into trying to make one day, yes one day, perfect. Like I love all the commercialism that goes on, dont get me wrong. Im a sucker for cheesey advertisments and films that are put out every year but I'm annoyed that in a way thats all my little head thinks about at times. It can be so easy to get consumed in all the hype. The food, the music, the presents, the tree...it can all be a bit too much for ones mind. Like even as Christians we can sometimes get too caught up in the worlds portrayal of Christmas. I certainly know I can. I want my mind to be focused on Him this Christmas and for all the Christmases to come.
It can be easy to write "Remember Jesus is the reason for this season" in every Christmas card we send, but how many of us really acknowledge the birth of our Saviour? Now I'm not saying this to try and make you feel bad or whatever, I guess this is more an expression of how I'm feeling this season and it hurts me a little. I dont wanna get caught up in all the rubbish. I'm not anti. Please dont think Im just gonna disregard everything this season. I guess my plea and prayer is that we all enjoy the season, dont get too stressed, but remember as we celebrate that it's our Bridegrooms birthday. We are celebrating the birth our dear Jesus. The day should be about Him. Not about the tree, not about the money spent on all the presents, not about all the food sprawled out over the table which only causes one to become bloated and consider the next year's resolutions. Its about Him. Jesus.




Lol random photo with a few Candy Canes. Didyas know that the candy cane is representive of what Jesus did for us? The red represents His blood and the white is to show how His blood cleanses us from our sins and makes us pure.

Joy to the world. The Lord has come. Let earth receive their King.



Well I wasn't sure what this entry was gonna be about but I am happy with the result. I'll do an update next time.
Love H x

Novz

Hey Lovely Folk!
Sorry havn't been blogging much. Seems the month goes too quickly and my head just has not got around to blogging!
SO this month has been a pretty regular month. There are a few things I wish to discuss but I'll save that for another day..er night I mean. For some mad reason I write much better in the midnight hours haha. So for you this evening, (Weird saying evening seeing as daylight savings has hit us and its really sun shiny outside :) I will give you very seasonal recipe :D. Seasonal for yall followers who all live in the Northern Hemisphere and are about to celebrate Thanksgiving..to be honest it feels sad that I know soo much about American folk..though you could say I am simply culturally aware ;)
Anyway enough beating around the bush. These are my babies. They were amazing, I cant tell you enough!

SPICY PUMPKIN AND CHOCOLATE MUFFINS




Now the recipe is really simple.

These are the ingredients:

2 1/2 cups of self raising flour
2tsp cinnamon
2tsp nutmeg
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
3 eggs
80g melted butter
1 1/2 cups pureed pumpkin
1 1/2 cups chopped dark chocolate (YUM)


Peheat oven to 180 degrees.

Take your pumpkin and cut her up, then puree it in a food processor. Or you could do it the easy way and buy pureed pumpkin? I've only heard about that good stuff. I'm guessing its canned.? Anyway I had to cook mine then process it up like this :) Oh and I left it to cool down. This is pretty important. You cannot put hot stuff in baking. I'm sure theres a more informative scientific reason but I just know you dont do. Dont even be tempted folks :)





Melt your butter and leave to one side.

Now put flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, and brown sugar in a bowl.



Once the pumpkin has cooled down. You may now beat your eggs and then mix with the pumpkin and melted butter. Check out my old school hand beater. I beleive this was my grandmothers :)



Now you may mix the dry and wet ingredients together. The mixture shouldnt be runny, but a sticky consistancy. Dont forget to add the CHOCOLATE (tehe) and transport the mix to their cosy wee cupcake cups.



Bake for 20 minutes or until muffins springs up when pressed.

Enjoy. With a glass or two of milk.






Will write again soon, I promise! Bless you all!
Love yas , H x

PS I dont drink whisky, apparently the above glass is made just for that particular alcohol. Little do I know.

October

Happy birthday to my dear nephew Benjamin who turns 2! I know I can't believe it either! Time sure flies huh! Its crazy. So last weekend my brother and co came to our house for a lovely birthday party! :D It was fantastic! The amount of calories we consumed..not so great I'll admit.



Doesnt that all look soooo good! Those cupcakes in the background are a work of art, arnt they? My youngest brother Michael, is quite the wee baker. Must take after his awesome older sis :p (I wish!). He loves making muffins, cupcakes, biscuits, and cakes. Pretty much anything sweet. We make quite the team sometimes..sometimes we argue...but even so its great living with foodies.

Anyway the weekend went so quick. I just loved seeing my family. It'd been like 3 whole months! Which is crazy long for us seeing as they used to live only an hour away and we were used to seeing them on a weekly basis. Was great having the house full agin too. Our house is small so growing up with five brothers means I was used to noise and having people around all the time. I just love hearing soo many voices and going from room to room, knowing there was gonna be someone in it.

Btw its almost 12am so forgive me for my grammar, punctuation etc. Though I'm sure your used to my randomness by now :P

Now below is a photo of Benji's cake. Its a dinousaur. Just in case you didn't get that ;). My mother is an amazing cook and loved making cakes like this growing up. Unfortunately as we got older, she felt cakes like this would be a bit too much. (Wouldnt it have been funny if my brothers 16th birthday featured a teddy bear cake?! Don't think he'd like that too much ;). So of course having the opportunity to make cakes like this for her beloved grandson is any grandmothers dream. FYI I did actually do the icing. I do work in a bakery remember :)
Ps That red dot is his eye..bit of a fail I know.



Overall the birthday was amazing. On top of that my oldest nephew stayed the following week (as it was school holidays). That was a real treat. He is a feisty wee thing that knows what he wants but he is adorable and I wouldn't trade him for the world. One of the days he stayed, a new ice-cream shop opened. I would lie if I didn't say we made sure we had a wee treat of ice cream :)

The week went uber quick. Always happens eh. But oh well life goes on. I'm planning on taking a holiday soon, and will mayb (fingers crossed, or in Christian terms God willing ;) I'll head up there way and stay with them for a few days. Am praying about it..really do need a break to be honest. We'll see what happens.



Now you're probably wondering what a photo of tulips is doing in this post. Well my dear friends, that is simply just one of the new gems I've planted lately. I've officially started gardening. And I'm not just talking about pansy flowers (see what I did there? Play-on words with the 'pansy', as its also a flower but I was using it as a way to say that I'm not just settling on flowers..ya get what I mean ;) I have also got a vegie garden. Yes vegetables. Toldya that Daniel Fast did me good :).
In my garden so far, yes I even dug my own patch, I have spinach, curly kale, lettuce, an assortment of herbs, and strawberries. I plan on adding a few more things as we get further into the season but will see. I am honestly excited about it. Lately we have had massive amounts of rain and I was concerned that it would affect my plants as apparently your not supposed to plant anything until Labor Weekend (last weekend). I sowed mid September if I recall. Thankfully however, these babies of mine are tough and are standing strong. Cannot wait til harvest time :D

Hmm now onto important things :) God. He's great isnt He? His grace. His mercy. Don't get me wrong I have days where I'm not very happy and sometimes I gotta go and make myself spend time in His word and talk to Him. But I think it's in those times when it's really worth. When we're broken. When we need comfort. When we're lonely. Even when we're bored. I get bored. I won't lie. Being in my position isn't easy. Waiting for something so spetacular, it's so easy to fall into the busyness of life and take myfocus of Him and His plans. Thats when I gotta summon up the courage to go to Him and humble myself before Him.
I want share a few amazing verses with you that have touched me lately. Both are from the book of Psalms. Isnt that such a great book. Pretty much every human state of mind is covered in that book. God thank you ! :)
Anyway so verse Number One is in Psalm 118 and it reads

"The Lord is on my side;
I will not fear.
What can man do to me? "

Check out that first line. The Lord is on my side. He is on my side. He is on your side dear friends. He is on your side. He, God of the universe, is on YOUR side. Isnt that crazy cool! I don't know about you but that hit me. Like to think He is for me. Like He's working on my behalf. He's cheering me on. I'm not sure why I didn't get that. Like why is that so hard for my mind to comprehend. It is crazy.

Verse Number Two is in Psalm 126.

"Those who sow in tears
Shall reap in joy. "

Isn't that verse quite a wee gem. I found such encouragement in that truth. It really hit home for me. Every tear shed will eventually reap in joy. I think that there, is simply hope. For the struggles we face now only last a moment but what we'll have later is everlasting joy.

Rejoice my dear friends, the pain you may be experiencing wont last forever. God is a comforter. He is on your side. He is for you, not against you.

Anyway friends. Thats it from me. Not super long. But I will post on the weekend. I have three days. Tomorrow is a God day and then Sat or Sun you'll see some lovely cupcke pics ;)

Bless you. H x

Recipe!

Hey folks!
Happy October! I just love this month! The weather's like really starting to heat up and summer is on its way! Heck today I was like wearing a tanktop (dont worry its modest) and we had a family bbq! It was lovely! Anyway I'm gonna update again another day but first I want to upload more photos (woo!) and a recipe :)
So one day during my Daniel fast. I had a massive craving for muffins. Obviously I couldn't have sugar etc so this wasnt possible during the fast. I also really wanted banana and kumera (sweet potato in your world)..together! So I jumped on google and totally found a Banana and Sweet Potato Muffin recipe! Woo! I actually found a few I'll admit so it wasnt as uncommon and unique as I first thought :) Anyway here is the recipe and my attempts of making it :) FYI I made this after my fast :D

Sweet Potato and Banana Muffins

Ingredients

1 1/3 cups flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups mashed sweet potatoes
2/3 cup mashed banana
1/4 cup melted butter
2 eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup toasted chopped pecans

Directions:
1. Well grease 2 dozen muffin tins.
2. In a medium bowl, combine flour,sugar,baking powder,allspice,salt.
3. In a large bowl, combine potatoes,melted butter, bananas,eggs and milk, blend well.
4. Add to flour mixture and stir,add pecans and stir just till blended.
5. Fill cups 2/3 full.
6. Bake 400 for 20 minutes.



I used orange kumera as I was told it is sweeter. I suppose in America you have other varieties which may work better.



These are the dry ingredients. Sugar, flour, baking powder, allspice and salt.





Now I'll admit I cheated. I put the kumera in a bowl of water into the microwave and nuked it. I doubt it makes much difference really but who am I to know, I'm just a baker ;)



I didn't have pecans on hand so I used walnuts instead :) Just as tasty :)



I laugh at this container of baking powder. It just looks so cute. Edmonds is a very popular brand in New Zealand. :)



The bowl on the right is the milk, melted butter, eggs and mashed banana. Not sure why I didnt have a photo of that mix. Probably over taking photos at that point haha.



Mix that baby up!



And voila into the cups and into the oven.



Tehe I got impatient. Honestly who can resist a fresh muffin straight from the oven. Pure bliss. Betcha wondering how it tuned out? Well if you can imagine a carrot cake yet with a hint of parsnippy goodness then that is how it tasted. I know strange right. But I kid you not thats how it went. Wont lie I may have eaten two.. thankgoodness for pilates! Woo.

Anyway lovely peeps thanks for reading and how about giving this odd treat a try. You wont regret it :)

(Credit to a chef called Shirl (J) )

September baby!!

Hey folks so here I am, offically an adult! I have left my teen life forever..okay writing 'forever' makes it a little bit scary! I am never gonna be a teen again! Mind you, I'm never gonna be a twenty year old again so I may aswell make the most of it!
Anywaay I have wrote two blogs this month, are you proud!? Now this probably wont happen every month so dont get mad! Right so on the 17th I celebrated my twentieth birthday and I'm actually gonna include pictures! Woo! I can hear your excitment! :D
I started my day arising at 6.30 am (yes on my day off!) and spent time in Word and watched the sun rise. It was gorgeous and definately worth getting up for.


This is me enjoying my birthday cake. It was devine. Mother made me a blackforest gatuex. Have I mentioned how much I love dark chocolate.


One of my dear friends Laura took me out for morning tea. I had a beetroot and cardomon cake. (I know lots of cake!). I was truelly excited. I have eyed this cake from our local restaurant for two weeks prior but was never game to buy it. Obviously the calories are shocking though in saying that, beetroot is a vegetable..tehe. Anyway heres the picture of beauty. Laura also bought a piece of banana cake :)


Then Laura and her sister Jess came over to my house and we ate lots of fruit with you guessed it, dark chocolate fondue :) Was really good. So we just hung out really. I was quite gutted to not have a guitar in the house. Usually we have a wee sing-song (my friends and I are very much into music and singing and playing and all that good stuff) but alas when my oldest brother left to Auz he took his with him. We really ought to invest in one just to have around. Obviously I dont play (I'm sure I've shared my lack of musical abilities..atleast with instruments), but having one in the house again may encourage me to learn (not likely). I'd love to learn but I know me and I know that good intentions only go so far. Atleast it's proven that way thus far. It could change ;). I mean here I am writing my second entry this month :p. Anyway as my friends were leaving my friend Rindy came over with her wee dog Scout ;) He's gorgeous. She wasnt able to come earlier as she was watching her poor nana who hasnt been well. She's much better now, thank Jesus. So that was a really lovely surprise :).





He's a golden retriever and he's kinda huge to be honest. But absolutely delightful. Where was I.. Oh yes so that night I had a lovely tea with my family. We had lots of laughs as I made my brothers video like EVERYTHING. You see I'm usually the one holding lenses in peoples faces birthdays but on mine there is no recording whatsoever. Obviously I can't record myself so I made my brothers do it. They did a pretty good job actually :)
After tea (or dinner in the US) we watched the film Karate Kid. The new one with Will Smith's son as the lead. He did a pretty good job. And my brother Joe looked into it and told me that all the stunts were actually done by him. That is pretty amazing if you ask me. That is one tough kid. I would definately reccommend this version.
So overall my twentieth was rather charming. I still very much look and act like a young child bur in all honesty who actually doesnt. It's funny looking back on life and thinking about being twenty. Heck even 18 seemed old and now I'm two years past. It's so crazy! I cannot beleive how quick these last few years have gone since finishing high school.Who knew I'd still be at home and working in a bakery. Not that I'm complaining. I know I'm meant to be here and I know there is a season coming that will be too crazy for words. (Bring on Revival whoop whoop!).
Right well I have to bid you farewell for now bloggers. This entry wasnt as long as I'd hoped but I have recipe which I'll post soon hopefully :D. The whole uploading photos thing is actually rather tricky but I'm keen as a bean to try again!
So have an awesome month!
Love H